Students from PAC Lyceum and Vencedor School of Puerto Varas participated in a camp on science, technology and innovation

For three days, twenty-two groups of students from eleven secondary schools in Lankihu Province participated in a virtual camp in which they developed various activities related to leadership, teamwork, and project development using the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) methodology. This initiative is funded by the Los Lagos Regional Government and implemented, for the second year in a row, by the University of San Sebastian Cíde de la Patagonia through the Fund for Innovation for Competitiveness (FIC) “Promoting a culture of science, technology and innovation in schools of the Los Lagos region.

The participating schools in the district are the Ignacio Carrera Pinto and Industrial Chileno-Alemán de Frutillar High Schools; Holland Polytechnic Bicentennial and Saint Paul’s College in Llanquihue; Pedro Aguirre Cerda High School and Vincidor College in Puerto Varas; Río Puelo de Cochamó Rural School; Ponta de Reles High School in Los Muermos; Carlos Ibáñez del Campo High School and Purísimo Corazón de María de Fresia High School, and Comercial Miramar High School in Puerto Montt. The training courses were conducted by specialists from the Ciencia Joven Foundation.

Laura Larinas, teacher at the Vincidor School in Colonia Rio Sur, in the municipality of Puerto Varashighlights that “it was a very enriching experience, the students were very active and interested in the different activities that took place in the camp”. Natalie Maldonado is a teacher at the Chilean-German Industrial High SchoolHe comments: “I see my students are very motivated, they really have a scientific spirit, and they want to innovate, be creative and experiment. They developed better in the camp as students, as they acquired different tools for leadership and teamwork and how to set up a science project.”

Sofia Castro, student at Miramar Commercial High School From Puerto Monttnotes that “we really liked the camp experience, because we shared a lot with our colleagues from all over the province.” Cristian Vasquez, from Ponta de Reles High School in Los Muermosexpresses: “I hope all the combinations work well, and that it is a useful experience for our professional technicians that we study.” Lisbeth Sandoval is a student at Ignacio Carrera Pinto High School in Frutilar Highlights “I found this experience very entertaining because it helped us to think more, generate different opinions and learn to work as a team. Together with my team, we hope to achieve a higher level of learning.”

The project “Promoting a culture of science, technology and innovation in schools in the Los Lagos region” seeks to train students from 50 institutions in four provinces of the region over a period of three years. During the first year of implementation, forty teams received funding to develop their innovation prototypes, and four of them received internships at the international and national levels. Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna High School in Puerto Montt reached 2nd place in the district, and as a prize, he developed an internship in the offices of BancoEstado in Santiago. “As a university, we are very happy that young people from high schools in our area can propose solutions from science and technology to problems discovered in their environments and communities,” he explains. Valeria Muñoz, Academician at the University of San Sebastián and Project Director.

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